AMA adds weight to obesity argumentAMA adds weight to obesity argument

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors and management of Nation’s Restaurant News.


Earlier this summer, the American Medical Association took a step that not only opens a new front in the policy battle public health activists have been fighting with the restaurant industry for years, but also vastly expands the number of Americans who could qualify for disability status.

The AMA declared obesity to be a disease, elevating it in the association’s mind from a condition that could cause other diseases — such as diabetes, heart disease or cancer — to a diagnosable illness in its own right. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 36 percent of adults and 17 percent of children and adolescents in the United States meet the government’s definition of obese.

That’s a lot of “sick” Americans.

Although the AMA’s decision doesn’t automatically obligate the government to change its classification of obesity — which is inconsistent across federal and state agencies — its move legitimizes actions already being undertaken by public health activists and government officials.

For instance, as part of his address to the National Conference of State Legislatures Aug. 13, CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden focused much of his attention on the national obesity epidemic. While noting, “The closest thing we have to a wonder drug [in public health] is physical activity,” Frieden gave credit to government regulations for the decline in obesity rates recently reported in several states. Indeed, first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign has made comprehensive strides.

But the voices of those who would rather focus on food content restrictions as the prime way to battle obesity are growing louder.   

For elected officials who think more regulation is always the answer to societal issues, the AMA’s decision adds ammunition to their arsenal to shape public policy against restaurants and the broader food industry.

Concurrent with the AMA’s decision, New York mayoral candidate and current City Council Speaker Christine Quinn called for all restaurant kids’ meals to meet federal school lunch nutritional standards. If elected mayor this fall, Quinn will no doubt have the AMA in her corner when she begins pursuing new restaurant restrictions.

Meanwhile, provisions under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act require individual insurance plans to offer treatment for obesity — and that was before the AMA bumped it into the disease category. As restaurants make plans for implementing new regulations associated with the ACA, the potential for a new class of illness to be added to the health insurance mix should be of concern for low-margin businesses.

From the legal perspective, the reclassification of obesity by the AMA may serve to reinvigorate efforts by trial lawyers and public health activists to hold the food industry accountable for the adverse impacts of obesity on individuals. In the early to mid-2000s, several states took the initiative to enact laws giving liability protection to the food industry for such frivolous lawsuits, but a similar effort in Congress — the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act — failed to make it across the finish line, leaving jurisdictions scattered across the country where aggressive lawyers may yet try their luck.

Lawsuits have continued to be filed since that time, but plaintiffs have so far been unable to sell the idea that the purveyor of food shares the blame for the “condition” of obesity. If we agree obesity is now a “disease,” there is likely more blame to spread around.

There is strong evidence that educational attainment is inversely correlated with obesity rates, leading many public health experts to theorize that a focus on education coupled with better personal choices are the most effective routes to decreasing obesity rates. Nonetheless, the AMA designation gives credence to the left’s arguments pushing for new policies that limit consumer choice and stifle economic growth, such as limits to beverage sizes, “fat taxes,” and bans on certain types of restaurants and retailers through zoning ordinances.

Public health activists — and the CDC — already employ tools like the health impact assessment, or HIA, to pick and choose the restaurant and retail brands that can open in designated areas. Factoring the demographics of obesity into HIAs is likely to further legitimize that process, as well.

New rulemaking from Barack Obama and members of his administration in the wake of the AMA’s reclassification of obesity would seem a logical move — perhaps expanding upon employers’ reasonable access obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It’s nearly certain that the decision will impact ADA lawsuits faced by business owners. But a more urgent concern is that as employers continue to face new calls for mandatory paid sick leave, restaurant operators should be concerned that — at least according to the AMA — one-third of the American population just got sick.

Joe Kefauver is managing partner of Parquet Public Affairs, a national issue management, communications, government relations and reputation assurance firm that specializes in service sector industries. Parquet’s clients include Fortune 500 corporations, trade associations, regional businesses and nonprofit organizations. For more information go to www.ParquetPA.com.